Avery Johnson announced his retirement and Dallas named him as an assistant
coach. The Mavs also announced that Donn Nelson will no longer be a bench
assistant so that Johnson can be a bench assistant (the league only allows 3
assistants on the bench - this year it will be Johnson, Del Harris, and
Charlie Parker). Johnson's retirement frees up a roster spot and Dallas
does not have to cut a player who has a guaranteed contract - they would
have had to do so if Johnson had not retired (with Dan Dickau most likely
being the player released). Jason Sasser, Felipe Lopez, and Derek Hood
were released today. Dallas now has 15 players under contract. The next
move will be determining which 3 players will be placed on IR (Tariq
Abdul-Wahad and Pavel Podkolzin will be 2 of the 3). Johnson had spent all
of preseason coaching and had shown no desire to play or practice, so the
move was a good one for both him and the team. He will still receive the
minimum ($1.1 million) contract Dallas gave him for this season (and it
will still count against Dallas' salary cap).
Sacramento at Dallas (preseason, October 28)
It was Dallas' last preseason game and the team put on a good performance,
despite a number of players still not playing. Michael Finley (sore
hamstring), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Marquis Daniels (sprained
ankle), Jason Terry (wisdom teeth pulled), and Derek Hood (pulled groin) did
not play. Both teams started out playing well on offense, but neither was
doing much on defense. Dallas led 11-9 with 7:45 left and went on a 20-4
run to go up 29-13 with 3 minutes remaining. Sacramento responded by
scoring the next 11 points. Dallas led 31-24 after 1. Dallas shot 61% FG
and Sacramento shot 64% FG, but Sacramento also committed 8 turnovers.
Matt Barnes converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 36-36 with 7:40
left. Dallas regained the lead, but Bobby Jackson scored 6 straight
points and Darius Songaila got a layup to give Sacramento their largest
lead at 46-42 with 4:30 to go. Dallas connected on 4 straight free throws
to tie the game and the teams traded leads over the rest of the quarter.
Dallas led 56-54 at the half. Sacramento lost their sharp shooting in the
2nd half (they shot 64% FG for the 1st half) and Dallas was able to take
advantage with their good play. The Mavs opened the 3rd quarter with a
12-3 run to go up 68-57 with 8 minutes remaining. Sacramento scored the
next 6 points, but Dallas then scored the next 4 points and Dallas' lead
would hover around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Dan Dickau hit a
runner to end the quarter and Dallas led 87-76 after 3. A jumper by
Songaila opened the 4th quarter and Dallas then scored the next 9 points
to take their largest lead at 96-78 with 9 minutes to go. Dallas'
reserves then slacked off and couldn't find the bucket or defend and
Jackson led the Sacramento charge as the Kings scored 10 straight points
to pull within 88-96 with 6:15 left. Don Nelson decided that he wanted to
win this game and reinserted Dirk Nowitzki and Erick Dampier. With the
help of those two, Dallas went on an 8-1 run to go up 104-89 with 3
minutes remaining. Dallas won 112-93.
It was easily Dallas' best game of the preseason. Excluding a couple of
lapses, Dallas played well on offense and defense. The only thing I did
not like was the low number of assists - only 17 (but the Kings were worse
with only 15). Dallas shot 54.1% (40-74) FG including 4-8 3-pointers and
Sacramento shot 44.1% (30-68) FG including 3-10 3-pointers. And the Kings
were very poor in rebounding as they only had 28 while Dallas had 42.
There were lots of free throws as Dallas shot 28-34 FT and Sacramento shot
30-40 FT. The Kings overcame their early turnover woes and finished with
just 14 while Dallas also had a low turnover number with 13.
The Mavs had a number of very good performances in this game. Dirk
Nowitzki finally found his shooting touch and looked in All-Star form. He
had 30 points including 11-16 FG, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and even 2
blocks. It was very entertaining during one part of the game when he and
Peja Stojakovic were playing a little game of one-on-one as the 2 were
defending each other (and scoring on each other). Devin Harris continues
to impress and again brought ohhhs with a dunk attempt where he was
driving fast and cupped the ball one-handed for the power jam, but did
not make the jam as he was fouled. He had 24 points including 12-15 FT, 4
rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He had some defensive lapses early as
Mike Bibby took advantage of the rookie, but improved as the game went
along and easily held his own and caused problems. Josh Howard continued
his solid preseason play and had 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Erick Dampier had a very nice outing with 15 points including 7-11 FG and
15 rebounds. The only complaints were his 5 turnovers and his not getting
up on Brad Miller on the outside as Miller hit a couple of open
15-footers. Calvin Booth and Alan Henderson both had poor outings.
No one really had a solid performance for Sacramento. Bobby Jackson was
the best of the bunch and drained a couple of 3-pointers that brought back
unpleasant memories. Jackson was the high man with 15 points and had 4
rebounds and 3 assists. Chris Webber looked terrible and only had 8
points including 1-7 FG and 6 rebounds in his 29 minutes. Mike Bibby
only had 8 points including 2-7 FG and 2 assists and had 4 turnovers in
his 24 minutes. Outside of his little one-on-one stretch with Nowitzki,
Peja Stojakovic was hardly noticeable and finished with 12 points
including 4-7 FG in 25 minutes. Darius Songaila had 11 points and
Maurice Evans had 13 points. The Kings were playing without Doug
Christie and Greg Ostertag.
Quotes
Don Nelson: "The good news is the preseason is over. Hopefully, the next 4
days we will practice and not have any days off. It would be good news if
I have all my guys for practice even if they are not 100% healthy. I think
they need to at least move the ball around and play together."
Nelson: "It was another game in which we played pretty well. I thought we
had a good chance to win it, so that's why I put Dirk and Dampier back in
the game [in the 4th quarter]."
Nelson on Harris: "He's got skills and you can't stop skill. It's going
to depend on how he matures as a rookie and how much he can digest to be
a really good point guard right away. I haven't been overly hard on him,
but like any rookie when I call his name he pays attention. He's made a
lot of adjustments this year."
Nelson on Dampier: "He can get rebounds like nobody else I have had here.
He can establish an inside game. He can score, rebound, and block a shot.
He's done a pretty good job of finding people. We haven't worked that
much on offense. He is moving fine in the right direction and I think he
is ready to open up now. I was a little worried 4 games ago. He's made
real good progress."
Devin Harris: "We definitely did it on both ends of the court tonight. We
got some good looks and we just tried to go out there and play hard and
get ready for this first game coming up next week."
Harris: "I think we all had a better feel for the game out there tonight.
Everybody was comfortable and we got a routine going in the secondary
break. Defensively, we struggled at times, but we got stops when we
needed them."
Harris: "I felt comfortable tonight and now I feel like I can make
something happen during the regular season. I got a lot of minutes these
past couple of games and I'm just getting the feel for everyone. I'm
feeling more comfortable with more playing time that I get."
Harris on Bobby Jackson: "He's a good challenge for me. I think I did a
good job tonight, but I can always learn a lot more."
Rick Adelman on Tuesday's Dal-Sac game: "I think you just get a feel for
who they have and how they're playing. Other than that, you just worry
more about how you're playing and what you're trying to accomplish. We're
making some progress but we have to play better than that."
Adelman: "We're not really there yet. We have 2 major players out and we
have a long ways to go. The season's not very far away, but we're getting
there."
Adelman on his starters: "There's not much to say. The first group came
out with no energy, no nothing."
Chris Webber: "There's no excuse for such a slow start by us. You have
to give them credit, but we hold ourselves responsible and we have some
mental changes that are necessary."
Webber: "We should never hold back. Whether a slow start like that happens
or not, you should never hold back. Even in the preseason, we can't have
slow starts like that. You can't beat a team like Dallas starting off the
game like we did. They're good and they go at your mismatches. They make
you check them and you can't really come out lazy."
Webber: "We really didn't execute at all. We can't be proud of our
performance. There is no excuse at all. We have to hold ourselves
accountable and make some mental changes."
Webber on Tuesday's Dal-Sac game: "It gets you familiar with the
personality of their team and their new personnel. It won't help us on
Tuesday, but it'll make some more comfortable for the games that really
count."
Mike Bibby: "You have nights like this even though you don't want to. We
have to bounce back."
Dallas Mavericks 112, Sacramento Kings 93 at Dallas (October 28)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 31 25 31 25 - 112 .545 .500 .541 .824
Sacramento 24 30 22 17 - 93 .466 .300 .441 .750
Halftime: Dallas 56-54
3rd Q: Dallas 87-76
Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 9:42 3rd
Refs: Scott Foster, LeRoy Richardson, Zach Zarba
Attendance: 19,070 (sellout)
Did not play due to injury: Jason Terry (wisdom teeth pulled), Derek Hood
(pulled groin), Michael Finley (sore hamstring), Marquis Daniels (sprained
ankle), Jerry Stackhouse (thigh contusion), Doug Christie, Greg Ostertag,
Courtney Alexander
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Josh Howard 44 8-14 0-1 5-6 21 2-4 4 1 1 2 0
Devin Harris 41 5-11 2-4 12-15 24 0-4 3 0 4 3 0
Dirk Nowitzki 35 11-16 1-2 7-7 30 1-7 5 2 4 0 2
Alan Henderson 27 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 1 1 5 1 0
Erick Dampier 33 7-11 0-0 1-2 15 5-15 1 5 2 0 1
Jason Sasser 21 4-8 1-1 0-0 9 0-4 1 0 2 0 0
Calvin Booth 16 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 0 1 3 0 0
Shawn Bradley 10 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 2-2 1 1 4 0 1
Dan Dickau 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 2 2 0 0
DJ Mbenga 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 3 0 0
Totals 48 40-74 4-8 28-34 112 12-42 17 13 30 6 4
Sacramento Kings REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Mike Bibby 24 2-7 0-2 4-5 8 0-0 2 4 3 1 0
Kevin Martin 24 2-4 0-1 2-2 6 1-2 0 3 3 0 0
Chris Webber 29 1-7 0-0 6-8 8 2-6 2 3 4 2 1
Peja Stojakovic 25 4-7 0-1 4-4 12 0-2 1 1 3 0 0
Brad Miller 25 3-7 0-0 1-2 7 0-2 1 0 1 1 0
Darius Songaila 25 3-7 0-0 5-6 11 3-4 1 0 2 1 1
Maurice Evans 24 6-9 1-3 0-0 13 0-3 2 0 1 1 1
Bobby Jackson 24 6-12 2-3 1-4 15 1-4 3 2 1 0 0
Matt Barnes 23 3-5 0-0 7-9 13 1-4 3 0 2 0 0
Alton Ford 17 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 4 0 0
Totals 48 30-68 3-10 30-40 93 8-28 15 14 24 6 3
patricia